荒稼ぎ (arakasegi: making a killing, making easy money; robbery)
savage + to gain a profitable situation
When I saw the yomi of this word, it rang a bell, and it took me a moment to figure out why. Eons ago, before I knew any Japanese, I wrote about South Americans of Japanese descent. In that way, I learned about dekasegi, wherein Japanese-Brazilians and Japanese-Peruvians (among others) were moving to Japan for economic reasons. Seeing 荒稼ぎ (arakasegi), I wondered if dekasegi might feature 稼, and I discovered that indeed it does!
出稼ぎ (dekasegi: working away from home)
to leave + working for a livingThe verb 稼ぐ (kasegu) means “to work, earn money, gain a profitable situation.” We saw it in a sample sentence quite a long time ago. We’ve also seen 稼 in this old, obsolete phrase:
板の間稼ぎ (itanoma kasegi: bathhouse thief)
board + room + to gain a profitable situationThe word 板の間 refers to the wood-floored room in a communal bathhouse where people undress.
Stealing people’s money as they bathe—that’s certainly one way of making easy money!
